You may not have expected it, but there it is. Petra Martic (30 years old and 25th in the world) got into the semifinals of the WTA 1,000 in Rome after beating Jessica Pegula for the fourth time in five matches. The Croatian, who had only won four matches in 2021 before traveling to the Italian capital, won by 7-5 and 6-4 in an hour and 40 minutes and awaits rival: Karolina Pliskova or Jelena Ostapenko.
BIGGEST semifinal of her career 🙌
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· Petra Martic is into the last four in Rome with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Pegula!# IBI21 pic.twitter.com/2iYMAdjCuc
– wta (@WTA) May 14, 2021
What Martic did had special merit, since Pegula had not lost a set in the entire tournament, but it is seen that he has taken the measure of the 27-year-old American and 31st in the ranking who has already beaten on all surfaces except on land, a surface on which they have not yet met. Petra had never passed the second round in the tournament and Jessica was coming as a rookie. In a scrambled first set, with five breaks, the Balkan broke for 6-5 and served; in the second set he went ahead twice and after 5-4 he resolved with his serve.
Results WTA 1.000 Rome.